“Have you ever been in space before?” Master Koen asked.

“No,” she answered truthfully. “Xeller’s ship was just a transport vessel.” She kept peering out the windows that they passed, watching the flashes of blue and white light flickered through the glass. “Was it scary?” she asked softly.

“What do you mean?”

“Was it scary standing before the Council?” she asked more clearly. She couldn't imagine meeting more new people. She was already overwhelmed.

“No, it felt very much like coming home.”

For the rest of the walk, she was quiet, only speaking when Master Koen asked her blatant questions. Otherwise she was quite content listening to him. By the time the Sagitta had docked, she felt her stomach grumble painfully again. Though Master Caden had given her snacks, she still had not eaten properly in weeks. . Since food was not offered to her this time, she didn’t bother asking. 

She was impressed by the size of the Prydwen and thought it looked like a spinning top with a glass dome. It was truly massive, perhaps the size of a small moon, much larger than Diago’s main spaceport. It had its own artificial atmosphere and at least three different biomes. It could dock several class b and c warships alongside several fleets of galaxy soarers. As she walked with Masters Caden and Koen, she could hear the ships zooming overhead. Her eyes widened. She had never seen anything quite like this. Everyone seemed nice, kind even, waving and pleasantly greeting the two masters. Some even acknowledged her presence. It was strange. That’s not how things worked on Diago. She was suspicious by every small gesture that seemed out of place to her. 

“What is this place?” She asked Master Caden. She took in the large statues around her. This was the biggest space station she had ever seen. “What’s this station’s name again? It's huge!”

“We are aboard the Prydwen, home to the Council,” he answered with a smile. “The occupancy limit is well into the 5,000s.” 

“Which is to say,” Master Koen added, “many students and masters live here and train together.”

“People live here?” She asked incredulously. The air was fresh and crisp. Everything was so clean. People seemed happy here. This was far different than anything she had ever experienced on Diago. People were never happy on Diago.

“Yes, yes they do,” Master Koen laughed.

“Are we going to see the Council now?”

“We are,” Master Caden answered with a straight face. “We must debrief them on the results of our mission. For now, I am taking you to my quarters on board. There you will wait until you are summoned.”

She nodded.

They walked down a long tiled hallway with walls covered in paintings. Nexara secretly wished for them to stop occasionally so she could get a better look. She’d never seen art this up close before. Finally made it to what had to be his apartment. The room they stood in was quite large, and Nexara felt anxious that there was so much open space. Wooden pillars line the walls. The rug beneath her feet was soft. The last time she had felt something so soft was when she was at the Morgenstern Manor. A shiver ran down her spine. 

No, don’t go there, she told herself.

A squeaky voice called out Master Caden’s name, shaking her thoughts. A strange orange alien came running from one of the rooms. He was about her height, just a bit taller than her. His big orange eyes clashed wildly with his light-orange and purple skin. The headset on his left ear seemed a bit too big on him. His ears were long and thin. He had a long pale-orange mustache atop his upper lip and a long, thin, pale-orange beard to match. He had one long antenna sticking out the top of his head. She thought he looked something like a fish, but with no scales.

“Ekin, this is Nexara Sinclair. Miss Sinclair, this is Ekin,” Master Caden said, introducing the two. 

“Hello!” Ekin nearly screamed, his mustache flapping wildly as he spoke. 

“Hi,” she said cautiously, thrown off by his exuberance. 

“Is this a new student of yours?” He sounded excited. 

“That is for the Council to decide,” Master Caden said. “While I am gone, would you mind watching over her?”

“Oh, right, of course!” he nodded his head, his antenna bobbing up and down with the movement. 

Master Caden turned to Nexara, kneeling down to her eye level yet again. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Wait here,” he instructed gently. “I will send someone to retrieve you when it is time to meet the Council. This shouldn’t take too long.” 

She nodded, and watched him leave through the door. She turned to Ekin, and he was flashing her a big smile. She asked him what “exiled” meant, and he told her. She furrowed her brow. 

He made her a meal at the first rumble of her stomach. Her mouth watered at the sight of a cooked meal. Being on the streets for months, she had gotten so used to eating raw produce and dried meats that wouldn’t spoil that she cried at the first bite. Ekin comforted her and began to tell her stories about him and his cousins, Rinkin and Dragoljub. When he described his home planet, Dov-Nerod, he sounded deeply proud. To her it sounded like a beautiful place, and she told him so. He offered to take her one day, and she smiled. 

Masters Caden and Koen entered the meeting chamber. They bowed, respectfully addressing the rest of the council, a large group of men and women. 

“GrandMaster Flynn and esteemed members of the Council” Master Caden began, “Master Koen and I have returned from our mission.”

The oldest member, GrandMaster Flynn, a man with a long gray beard and green eyes, rose before speaking, “Greetings, Masters. I trust you were successful?”

“Define ‘successful,’” Master Koen said. “We ran into some major problems.”

“As you already know, over the course of the mission, I had managed to track down Xeller’s last known whereabouts, sensing the importance and dangers of the mission I recruited Master Koen for assistance,” he explained. “Unfortunately, our luck would lead us to discover that he has long since passed. Our investigation revealed that he has been deceased for several months, just shy of a year. Master Koen was in charge of the exhumation and DNA testing, so this can be considered confirmed.” He paused, allowing a dark skinned transcriptionist to catch up,

“Go on, Master Caden” GrandMaster Flynn permitted after a moment.

He took a breath, and continued, “I searched his house and discovered his badge, which had been imbued with Omnia, and a training Omnia Decoder. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to find any evidence of his laboratory, so that must be elsewhere in the universe. This is not all, he left behind a child. Disturbingly enough, she has the Mark of Dark Masters,” he informed them. “He had yet to begin her training, though. I suspect he had intentions to start before he passed.”

Silence fell over the room. A look passed between the Masters who were present. 

“You’re certain of this?” GrandMaster Flynn questioned, a crease formed across his brow. 

“Very certain,” he said. “He always had an obsession with the Mark and its power,” he sighed. “However, I sense no outright darkness in the child. He hadn’t had a chance to foster that spirit yet. A simple street rat, at best. Still, she exudes great energy for someone so young. I believe that, with proper guidance, she may turn out to be a fine warrior.”

GrandMaster Flynn remained lost in thought. He stroked his beard and mumbled to himself. At last, he met Master Caden’s eyes. “What is her parentage?”

“I do not know for certain, however she told me that her father murdered her mother and she was forced to live with a pimp. Twice actually, but they are of no importance.” 

“Poor child,” GrandMaster Flynn said. “But, we simply cannot steal property.”

“It would be a shame to send her back.” Master Koen snorted, “If we do, KolRa might snag her up, and that’s much worse than Xeller. He’s got a weird thing too with The Mark. He’s already matched our forces in numbers and strength. Let’s not give him another leg up on us. We know he likes to track Master Caden’s movements. It wouldn’t be long before he learns about Diago.”

“Still,” Master Caden waved a hand dismissively. “We cannot allow such power to walk freely within the Universe. She must be trained immediately. She’s showing signs of aptitude.”

“Understood,” GrandMaster Flynn nodded. “Bring her forth. I wish to see what you see.”

It was a rather long time until Master Koen came into the room. She had just begun to doze off on a small sofa, too. With a gentle shake, he greeted her pleasantly and then said, “Wipe that sleep from your eyes, and come along. It’s time to stand before the Council.”

She got up from the sofa and followed him. She was nervous, and she did her best to hide it. Only, when they came to the large ornately carved wooden doors, she felt her legs tremble as if she were standing on a precipice about to leap, uncertain if the water below would catch her. Master Koen opened the doors. They went in. This was it.

The room was huge and circular with seats surrounding it. Tapestries, decorated with the golden emblem of the Council, hung from the walls. Before everyone took their place, Master Caden quickly introduced her to the members of Council. There must’ve been at least 20 of them present, and she was surprised to learn that there were more offship. It was hard to remember names and faces, but she was able to remember at least two. Humans tended to look too much like one another, at least the ones she had met so far. To make matters worse, they all dressed alike, except one, who she was told was GrandMaster Flynn. The other Council member she could distinguish was a dark skinned man named Master Al-Och, who was some sort of transcriptionist. 

She stood in the middle of the room before the group. She shifted uncomfortably. Something about them radiated power, and she felt smothered by it. She looked desperately to Master Caden, desperate for guidance, but his face was expressionless. The members considered her for a moment. A look passed between them. The GrandMaster seemed preoccupied, studying her carefully. She shifted again as it felt like he was seeing through her.

“I sense great Omnia within her,” GrandMaster Flynn said at last.

“Indeed,” various Council members agreed.

“Young Lady,” the GrandMaster began, “you stand here, before the Council, in hopes of becoming Master Caden’s student, is that correct?”

“Yes,” she nodded. Please, please, let it be this easy, she begged inwardly.

“Very well,” he closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, she saw a softness behind the gaze. In fact, everyone had seemed to let their seriousness ebb away. “We hereby grant you the title of Omnia Novice,” he declared. “Master Caden will be the one to instruct you in the ways of Omnia and discipline. We hold high hopes for you.”